Evolution begins with an ant colony

As Akun traversed the green portal, he found himself in a vivid time tunnel. Events from various corners of the world replayed on the tunnel walls and floated around him. The system's voice echoed:

[Welcome, player, to the stream of time. Proceed to the end of the stream; another portal to the alternate timeline awaits ahead.]

Following the instructions, Akun accelerated his flight with aspect power, and soon, another portal revealed itself. On the other side, sunlight bathed the scene of the ant city, appearing untouched and intact. Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

As Akun glimpsed at the scene beyond the portal, a smile graced his face. "I'll save you all this time, I promise."

Emerging from the portal, Akun hovered over the forest bordering the ant city. From his aerial vantage point, the first sight that met his eyes was Oliver leading the scouting team, accompanying Princess Rinalef toward the ant city's castle.

Observing the unfolding scene, Akun thought to himself, "If this is the moment the princess arrives, then any moment now, the me of this timeline will be soaring off to the ant city."

Akun descended with a gentle touch onto the forest floor, contemplating his next move. Inwardly, he pondered, "Now that I'm here, how do I actually fix this? I don't want to encounter myself from this timeline; that would be super confusing." He gestured inquisitively while leaning against a tree in the the forest.

In the depths of contemplation, Akun delved further into his thoughts. "My grand goal is to change the fact that Oliver was sent to the dryad tribe, where he somehow got implanted with that seed. But it was originally I who gave him that order. So, I can't tell the me from this timeline not to send Oliver on the mission.

Any action that reveals my existence to the me of this timeline will turn him into a separate individual from the current me, which will nearly make combining both of our souls fail."

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The concept behind this is as follows: consider two identical cups of water, where one is half full, representing the past Akun, and the other is completely full, symbolizing the current Akun. Due to this, the full cup can spill half of its water and replace it with the contents of the half-full cup, resulting in the complete cup being full.

However, if, for some reason, the half-full cup becomes a full cup by adding oil on top of the water, spilling half of its contents won't be sufficient to accommodate all the contents of the other cup.

Essentially, Akun's plan is to ushe his †Authority† to erase his memories from when he was originally summoned to when he sent Oliver on the mission. Then, he would combine the memories he has left with those of his past self, resulting in both of their souls peacefully becoming one.

But if the Akun of this timeline learns about the Akun of the future, that would be additional information that did not originally exist, causing the process to fail.

Akun also plans to do the same with the other world, and all of it's inhabitants, that is excluding the already dead people.

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As Akun delved into his thoughts, he contemplated, "What am I worried about? If, by some chance, I encounter the me from this timeline, I could simply pause time and erase his memory."

Little did Akun realize, the hands of fate can be truly cruel at times.

Undeterred, he continued, "But it's still better to be safe than sorry. I'll do my best to avoid him. My mission now is to secretly follow Oliver in the shadows, protecting him during his mission since I can't exactly stop him from going. When things are about to go downhill, I'll intervene, preventing the entire seed-planting process. Then, I'll freeze time and merge the timelines."

As something swiftly passed through the sky, Akun's keen senses caught wind of it. Internally musing, he deduced, "That must be the version of me from the past heading for the ant tribe. I suppose I should make my way over and patiently wait near the ant city until I spot Oliver escorting the princess."

Having waited for what felt like an eternity, Akun gracefully perch himself on a tree just outside the ant city. Peering through the dense leaves, he couldn't help but wonder, "Why does this feel like it's taking forever? Did the meeting with that Dryad princess really take this long?"

Finally, the moment arrived as Princess Rinalef emerged from the castle with a visibly pale expression. Akun, hidden behind leaves, whispered to himself, "Guess it's starting now. Oliver should show up to follow behind her any moment."

His sharp demigod senses allowed him to witness Oliver swiftly joining the princess, and with an amused expression, he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Hey, wait up, princess," Oliver called out, a playful glint in his eyes.

Rinalef turned, offering a gentle smile. "Oh, Sir Oliver, what is it?" she asked, intrigued by the interruption.

Oliver's response was playful and teasing. "I just thought that I should escort you back home. We can't have a princess walking back alone now, can we? Who knows what might happen to you."

Rinalef couldn't help but blush at the chivalrous gesture. "Alright, Sir Oliver," she acquiesced, her voice warm. "Escort me, then."

Observing this scene unfold, Akun couldn't help but feel a bit queasy as he mumbled, "What is this? A scene from some shogun manga?"

"Well, it doesn't matter," Akun mused, employing his aspect power to hover in the air as he trailed behind Oliver and Rinalef. The evening sun dipped low, casting a warm orange glow over the forest, creating a beautiful scene that seemed to dance with the fading daylight.

As Akun continued to shadow them, he couldn't help but overhear their playful banter.

Oliver, after a thoughtful pause, released a sigh that resonated through the forest. He turned his gaze toward Rinalef, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Come on, Princess. Don't you have a trick or two up your sleeve that could speed up our journey back to your tribe?"

Rinalef pondered the suggestion, her response tinged with whimsy. "Well, I could always sprout some roots that we could use as a means of transportation." Her eyes sparkled with mirth as she contemplated the magical possibilities within their forest surroundings.

Observing this, Akun mumbled, "Damm, this is going to be one hell of a guard duty. I might just implode from cringe before the actual guarding even begins."